In a year of really hard times—including hurricanes, floods and fires—we’re counting our blessings and giving thanks to the local heroes and helpers across America. Here’s our list of outstanding nonprofits doing good work in all 50 states. They’re serving their communities by supporting rescue and rebuilding efforts as well as helping veterans, animals, Mother Earth, schoolchildren and much, much more. If you want to give more than just thanks, please consider donating to these charities or volunteering in your own community.

(Courtesy Still Serving Veterans)

ALABAMA

Young veterans are unemployed at almost twice the rate of their civilian peers. Still Serving Veterans helps vets (more than 50,000 since 2006) find jobs and get benefits they’ve earned. Counselors (all veterans) help with résumé writing, job hunting and VA benefit claims forms. “I cannot tell you how many times I heard, ‘Thank you for your service,’” says one vet. “That’s always appreciated. Of course, a job’s better.” ssv.org

In Yavapai County, boys ages 14 to 17 commit 55 percent of all juvenile crime. But give boys that age a big brother mentor, and the likelihood they’ll be arrested drops by more than 50 percent. Since 1976, Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters has mentored more than 8,500 at-risk kids in 19 communities and 65 schools throughout Yavapai County and Sedona. azbigs.org

(iStock)

ARKANSAS

In one of the hungriest states in the U.S., an estimated 549,000 Arkansans (1 in 5) don’t know where their next meal is coming from. The Arkansas Foodbank: United to Fight Hunger has its origins in 1982, when local farmers shared homegrown rice with hungry neighbors and launched the Arkansas Rice Depot, which merged last year with the Arkansas Foodbank. The new organization now gives out about 57,000 meals a day from their warehouse. arkansasfoodbank.org

(Courtesy Direct Relief)

CALIFORNIADirect Relief, based in Goleta, does exactly what its name implies: offer immediate help to those most in need. Founded in 1948 by Estonian immigrant William Zimdin, Direct Relief provides medical supplies (and medications) to community clinics across the USA (and in more than 80 other countries), such as 16,000 doses of insulin airlifted to Puerto Rico after Hurrican Irma. directrelief.org

(Courtesy Big City Mountaineers)

COLORADO

Big City Mountaineers helps Colorado kids from poor homes boost self-confidence, personal responsibility, teamwork, and a sense of connection to nature through weeklong wilderness expeditions with adult mentors. “I’m gonna come out of this with a lot of qualities I didn’t have before,” says one participant. “I mean, I had them, I just didn’t discover them.” bigcitymountaineers.org

(Courtesy Mary’s Place)

CONNECTICUT

Mary’s Place offers support, comfort and community to children and families grieving a death. “When my husband died, our 16-year-old daughter struggled terribly,” one client says. “At Mary’s Place she finally found a place where she could deal with her feelings of loss—because all the other kids were experiencing the same thing.” marysplacect.org

(Courtesy Faithful Friends Animal Society)

DELAWARE

About 16,000 pets a year become homeless in Delaware. Faithful Friends shelters strays until they find “forever homes.” In the first six months of 2017, FF took in more than 700 animals, provided food for more than 3,000 through their Pet Food Bank and placed nearly 600 pets in new homes. faithfulfriends.us

(Courtesy DC Central Kitchen)

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

For D.C. Central Kitchen it’s not enough to just feed those in need (though it does plenty of that). More, the nonprofit trains jobless adults for careers in the food industry and hires dozens of its own graduates to help prepare the 3 million meals it provides to homeless shelters, schools and other nonprofits every year. dccentralkitchen.org

(Courtesy JT Townsend Foundation)

FLORIDA

The late JT Townsend became a quadriplegic after a tackle in a high school football game in 2005. His JT Townsend Foundation helps other disabled adults and kids obtain adaptive equipment such as wheelchairs, medical strollers and hospital beds—more than 260 families since 2010. “To cry and laugh at the same time is what our experience was when our son received his specially made bike,” says a client. jttownsendfoundation.org

(Courtesy Chattahoochee Riverkeeper)

GEORGIA

The 430-mile-long Chattahoochee River stretches from the Blue Ridge Mountains through Atlanta and down to Florida. It provides drinking water for 4 million Georgians, carries away wastewater and generates power. Chattahoochee Riverkeeper protects and preserves the health of the river, its tributaries and watershed. Last year, the group stopped 16 major sewage spills, removed 23.4 tons of trash and investigated 99 industrial sites. chattahoochee.org

(Courtesy Project Hawaii)

HAWAII

It’s paradise, but not so much if you’re homeless. Sixteen thousand kids live in poverty in Hawaii; 1 in 10 are homeless. Project Hawaii provides clothes, food, school supplies, tents, cook stoves, sleeping bags and pillows to those in need—as well as summer camps and holiday parties. helpthehomelesskeiki.org

(Courtesy Higher Ground)

IDAHO

Ketchum’s Higher Ground takes full advantage of Idaho’s abundant natural resources to give kids, teens, adults and members of the military community living with disabilities the chance to ski, snowboard, fly-fish, kayak, swim, rock climb and more. Learning or relearning a sport can be life changing. “It showed me that you can still go out and have fun, you can let your guard down, and that’s something I had to come here to learn,” says one veteran. highergroundusa.org

(Courtesy Youth Guidance/Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

ILLINOIS

In a city haunted by violence, Chicago’s Youth Guidance Becoming a Man program is trying to turn the tide. The program gets rival gang members together to talk, slow down their decision-making and learn to make better judgments in high-stakes situations. Violent crime arrests for participants in the BAM program dropped by 44 percent; high school graduation rates rose by 19 percent. youth-guidance.org

(Courtesy CTN)

INDIANA

The name—Community Transportation Network—is prosaic, but CTN’s “no one is left behind” mission changes lives for hundreds of seniors, low-income families, children and people with disabilities in Fort Wayne. CTN provides dependable transportation (about 48,000 trips for 700 riders a year) to and from everything from weekly dialysis appointments to school field trips. ridectn.org

(Courtesy Vote Smart)

IOWA

It’s a state with a high political profile, thanks to its early presidential caucus. Vote Smart provides free, factual, unbiased info on more than 40,000 candidates and elected officials and more than 40,000 issues across the country. Vote Smart gets zero financial assistance from any organization or special interest group that lobbies or supports or opposes any candidate or issue. votesmart.org

(iStock)

KANSAS

Turner House Children’s Clinic, founded by volunteer pediatricians and nurses in 1990, offers a safety net for poor and uninsured kids. This year Turner house will provide pediatric primary care, dental services and behavioral health services for 6,000 children, many of whose families earn less than $10,000 a year. thcckc.org

(Courtesy MACED)

KENTUCKY

The Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED) helps launch and grow businesses and nonprofits in eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia. Recently, entrepreneurial training and funding and from MACED helped Katie Startzman open Native Bagel Co. in Berea, and Roy Farley and Kimberly Shepherd received technical assistance to help establish their mobile welding business, Specialty Welding Repair and Services, in Harlan. maced.org

(Courtesy SBP)

LOUISIANA

When Zack Rosenburg and Liz McCartney volunteered in St. Bernard Parish after Hurricane Katrina in 2006, they were stunned by the slow progress of recovery and rebuilding. They launched SBP to shrink the time between disaster and recovery, providing volunteers to rebuild homes for low- and moderate-income homeowners and helping businesses prepare resilience plans. SBP now helps recovery operations across the U.S., including victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. sbpusa.org

(iStock)

MAINE

For kids with life-threatening illnesses and their families, life is hospital stays, medical tests and fear. Casco’s Camp Sunshine is a break, with weeklong vacations filled with swimming, kayaking, and sleep-outs, or snowshoeing, ice-skating and sledding. The camp helps 750 families (3,000 people) a year from all 50 states and 27 countries. “It was the first time our family felt like we were not alone,” a former camper says. campsunshine.org

(Courtesy Fuel Fund of Maryland/Greg Kahn)

MARYLAND

Warm shelter is a basic human need, and the Fuel Fund of Maryland helps vulnerable families pay heat and home utility bills. People with incomes below 50 percent of the Federal Poverty Level often see 40 percent of their income go to energy bills. The Fund began in 1981, when Baltimore City councilwoman Victorine Q. Adams decided to help needy families after a couple in her district froze to death in their home. fuelfundmaryland.org

(Courtesy Elizabeth Stone House)

MASSACHUSETTS

Emergency shelter, transitional housing, classes in financial literacy and job hunting, therapy for traumatized kids—Jamaica Plain’s Elizabeth Stone House offers all this and more to adults and children escaping domestic violence. ESH was “my only support at a time when I felt like I had no one to turn to,” one former client says. elizabethstone.org

(Courtesy Flint Child Health & Development Fund/Aran Kessler)

MICHIGAN

Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha was the first to raise alarm bells about lead levels in the Flint’s drinking water—a problem that poses big threats to babies and young kids and their rapidly developing brains. She started the Flint Child Health & Development Fund to help provide early intervention and treatment for kids exposed to lead. flintkids.org

(Courtesy The Loft/Anna Min of Min Enterprises Photography)

MINNESOTA

For more than 30 years, the Loft Literary Center has nurtured hundreds of novelists, poets, spoken-word artists and writers in every genre and style through its writing classes, readings, community events and grant awards. The Loft engages more than 3,000 writers in learning opportunities every year, and hosts 100-plus authors in readings and dialogues, as well as awarding $400,000 in contracts, grants and awards to writers. loft.org

(Courtesy Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi)

MISSISSIPPI

In a state with one of the highest diabetes rates in the U.S., the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi helps those with diabetes and works to prevent others from getting it. They provide “Diabetes on Call” one-on-one counseling with patients; conferences for patients, families and health professionals; info for police officers on the difference between drinking, drugs and blood-sugar problems; and Camp Kandu, where kids and families learn to live with the disease. msdiabetes.org

(iStock)

MISSOURI

Justine Petersen Housing & Reinvestment Corporation helps low- and moderate-income level families by connecting people and small businesses with the money and financial skills they need to thrive. Since 1997, JP has counseled 25,000-plus families on credit-building strategies and helped 4,300 buy homes. justinepetersen.org

(Courtesy Soaring Eagle)

MONTANA

Soaring Eagle built and maintains an assisted living center for Northern Cheyenne elders in the Tongue River Valley to allow tribal elders to stay close to friends and family on the reservation as they age. Forty apartments offer views of the surrounding landscape; a large family room allows visits with family; and a 419-seat auditorium provides space for cultural events. soaringeagle.org

(Courtesy Prairie Gold Homes)

NEBRASKA

Nebraska’s prison system is one of the most crowded in the U.S. Prairie Gold Homes gives inmates training and experience in building homes so they’re better able to get jobs when they’re released. The return-to-prison (recidivism) rate for inmates who finish the construction training program is 3 percent, versus 21 percent for other inmates. prairiegoldhomes.org

(Courtesy Spread the Word Nevada)

NEVADA

How do you instill a love of reading in at-risk kids? You give them books, encourage parents to read with them, and partner community volunteers with kids so they can read together. Spread the Word Nevada has donated 4 million books to 467,000 low-income students since 2001. spreadthewordnevada.org

To see charities from the rest of the states, click next page.

(Courtesy NHBCC)

NEW HAMPSHIRE

The Granite State has the highest rate of breast cancer diagnoses in the country, a statistic the New Hampshire Breast Cancer Coalition (NHBCC) hopes to change. Over the past 25 years, the NHBCC has published the state’s first breast cancer resource guide, assembled comfort bags for the newly diagnosed, provided funds for treatment for needy patients, and raised awareness. nhbcc.org

(Courtesy One Simple Wish)

NEW JERSEY

Trenton’s One Simple Wish grants wishes to children in foster care, including headphones, Converse sneakers, gymnastic lessons or art classes. Founder (and foster mom) Danielle Gletow started the organization in her N.J. home with $10,000 of her own money; now it serves children in 48 states. onesimplewish.org

(Courtesy St. Martin’s HopeWorks)

NEW MEXICO

The mission: End homelessness, one person at a time. Albuquerque’s St. Martin’s HopeWorks provides job training and support, employment placement, transitional housing and emergency shelter to homeless individuals and families, helping more than 5,000 each year. The “There’s a Better Way” campaign sends a van throughout the city to offer panhandlers day jobs and connect them with other resources. hopeworksnm.org

(Courtesy Crisis Text Line)

NEW YORK

It’s where technology meets empathy: Text 741741 from anywhere in the US, and you’ll be connected with one of Crisis Text Line’s more than 3,700 trained crisis counselors. Last year counselors responded to more than 400,000 texters in crisis, about 75 percent of them under 25. “We want to make it as easy as possible for people who are in pain to get help,” says founder and CEO Nancy Lublin. crisistextline.org

(Courtesy TACF)

NORTH CAROLINAAlmost 4 billion American chestnut trees towered over the eastern U.S. in the early 1900s, providing food for a wide variety of birds and animals and rot-resistant, straight-grained wood for furniture, fencing and building. A blight fungus (some say the greatest ecological disaster ever to strike the world’s forests) killed off the trees by 1950. The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is working to bring them back. acf.org

(Courtesy HERO)

NORTH DAKOTA

Healthcare Equipment Recycling Organization (HERO) collects and redistributes donated medical supplies to people in need. Last year, HERO gave medical supplies to more than 5,000 North Dakotans and sent more supplies to 56 medical mission groups around the world. The environment benefits too: In 2015, HERO saved 172,000 pounds of usable healthcare supplies from ending up in landfills. herofargo.com

(Courtesy Crayons To Classroom)

OHIO

Crayons to Classrooms collects, buys and hands out free school supplies to teachers of needy students in 100 schools in the Dayton area—more than $13 million worth of notebooks, pencils, glue sticks, backpacks, crayons and other items since 2009. A 2016 study found that 96 percent of teachers felt free supplies increased students’ preparedness for class; 80 percent said students’ self-esteem jumped “significantly.” dc2c.org

(Courtesy The Hugs Project)

OKLAHOMA

The Hugs Project strives to give a “hug”— handmade neck coolers that lower core body temp by five degrees or more—to every service member serving in the Middle East, along with warm items in the winter and care packages of snacks, socks, toothbrushes, pillows, DVDs and Girl Scout cookies. The group has sent out more than 2 million “hugs” and over 1,000 tons of care packages since 2004. thehugsproject.com

(Courtesy Friends of the Columbia Gorge/Debbie Asakawa)

OREGON

For decades, Friends of the Columbia Gorge has worked to protect and maintain the cliffs, waterfalls, forests, and river lands that stretch for 85 miles along the Columbia River outside Portland. Now the organization will focus on how to help the gorge emerge from recent wildfires that burned more than 48,000 acres. gorgefriends.org

(Courtesy CVIM/Ira Raider/Raider Productions)

PENNSYLVANIA

If you’re sick or injured and don’t have insurance or money for a doctor, Community Volunteers in Medicine has your back. Since 1998 it’s offered primary medical care, dental services and free prescription medications to the uninsured and families with incomes less than 300 percent of poverty level in Chester County. Last year some 4,000 patients received help, including almost $4.3 million worth of medications and supplies. cvim.org

(Courtesy The College Crusade of Rhode Island)

RHODE ISLAND

The mission: Help kids in low-income communities graduate from high school and finish a college degree. The College Crusade of Rhode Island has given $33 million in college scholarships to 4,200 R.I. students since 2001. Kids can enroll in sixth grade; for the next six years they’re involved in programs to help with academics, preparing for college and exploring career options. thecollegecrusade.org

(Courtesy WINGS for Kids/Scott Henderson Photography)

SOUTH CAROLINA

It’s hard to stay in school if you lack social and emotional skills. Wings for Kids serves kids from poor communities, offering dance classes, art projects and competitive games—all with lessons hidden inside. Wings kids show improved classroom behavior and problem-solving skills, better school attendance and less anxiety than students not in the program. wingsforkids.org

(Courtesy National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota)

SOUTH DAKOTA

Vermillion (with a population of almost 11,000) is home to one of the largest, most important collections of musical instruments in the world, from the earliest surviving cello (the 500-year-old Amati “King”) to a 1952 Les Paul model Gibson guitar. The National Music Museum houses more than 15,000 musical instruments from cultures around the world. It hopes to reach more music lovers through traveling exhibitions and loaning instruments to other museums. nmmusd.org

(Courtesy The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee)

TENNESSEE

Elephants aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Tennessee, but The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald is the U.S.A.’s largest natural habitat refuge for Asian and African elephants. Spanning over 2,700 acres, the sanctuary has provided a safe haven for 27 former zoo and circus elephants since 1995. And their Distance Learning program provides live webinars for classrooms worldwide to learn about the complex needs of elephants in captivity and the crisis facing them in the wild. elephants.com

(Courtesy Soldiers’ Angels)

TEXAS

More than 173,000 Texans serve active and reserve duty in the military, and Soldiers’ Angels supports those service members, their families, wounded heroes and veterans. Programs (now nationwide) range from the Angel Bakers team (home-baked care packages to deployed service members) to the Living Legends team (sympathy cards and cards of remembrance to the families of fallen service members) to mobile food distributions for homeless/low income veterans. The group supported more than 362,000 service members, veterans and family members in 2016. soldiersangels.org

(Courtesy Breathe Utah/Chris Burke/Doglatin Media)

UTAH

Utah’s air quality is among the worst in the U.S., thanks to its unique topography and climate. Breathe Utah, an advocacy group for air quality, provides education programs in schools, offers simple solutions (idle less in your car), works to reduce emissions in commercial buildings and explains and promotes air quality legislation. breatheutah.org

(iStock)

VERMONT

Lucy’s House for the Prevention of Homeless Pets is a “pet food bank” that provides 18,000 pounds of pet food every month to help pet owners who need support keeping Fido and Fluffy fed. lucyshousesite.weebly.com

(Courtesy LCNV)

VIRGINIA

The Literacy Council of Northern Virginia teaches adults how to read, write, speak, and understand basic English so they can get the jobs they want, get more fully involved in their communities and achieve personal goals. Last year, 1,551 students from more than 90 countries (including the U.S.) participated in LCNV programs. lcnv.org

(Courtesy Josh Hendrick/SeaShare)

WASHINGTON

How do you bring nutritious seafood to food banks? SeaShare gets fish to the hungry, bringing together various providers of services and goods. Fishing boats, processors, packagers, transportation services, food banks—they’re all part of the chain. Over the past 20 years, SeaShare has provided more than 200 million servings of seafood to food banks across the U.S. seashare.org

(Courtesy Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of WV)

WEST VIRGINIA

A visual arts museum, a science center, a performance hall, a black-box theater, a planetarium—Charleston’s 240,000-square-foot Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences offers West Virginians a place to experience everything from soaring symphonies to summer science camps to performances of Elf: The Musical. More than 50,000 schoolchildren from all over W.V. (and neighboring states) visit the center each year. theclaycenter.org

(Courtesy Fellow Mortals)

WISCONSIN

Lake Geneva’s Fellow Mortals is “more than a place,” founder Steve Blane writes. “It is a living philosophy based on the belief that encouraging compassion in humans toward all life brings out the finest aspects of our humanity.” One of the largest wildlife rehab hospitals in the U.S., Fellow Mortals cares for injured and orphaned animals until they’re healthy enough to be released into the wild—or keeps them if they can’t make it on their own. fellowmortals.org

WYOMING

It’s got plains, mountains, canyons, geysers, rivers, plateaus and more than 116 species of mammals, plus over 300 bird species and dozens of reptiles. Wyoming is also home to some of the U.S.A.’s most iconic natural treasures—Yellowstone National Park, Devils Tower, Bighorn Canyon. The 50-year-old Wyoming Outdoor Council works to protect Wyoming’s public lands and wildlife, safeguard clean air and water and blaze the trail toward sustainable energy. wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org

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